When You're In Love
by Extraordinarily Extraordinary
Summary: Summary: In which Kate Beckett has a dream. (set sometime season 5, no spoilers, three-shot) NOW COMPLETE.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: In which Kate Beckett has a dream. Set sometime season 5, no spoilers.**

**Disclaimer: Do I have to? It's depressing to admit it...**

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_The sun shines through the semi-open curtain like it does every weekend morning. It's her silent but effective alarm clock. Every morning, it wakes her up. And just like almost every morning for the past few months, she leans over to the other side of the bed and stretches to touch the man beside her._

_Except...there is no man beside her. _

_Kate opens her eyes and looks to the place beside her. She expects it to me empty. If Castle's not there, who else would be? But it's not empty. There's somebody lying next to Kate. And it's somebody she hasn't seen in a very long time._

_"Mom?" _

_"Hey Katie!" Her mother's cheerfulness is what wakes Kate up. Or maybe not. Because how could she be waking up to find her mother lying beside her in bed? How could she be waking up to her dead mother?_

_"Mom." This time it is not a question that comes out of her mouth. It's the pure shock that sounds her voice. "What are you - how?"_

_"Katie, what are you going to do today? Got any plans?" her mother ignores her attempts to understand this. Instead, she continues chattering away about the beautiful day and what they should do._

_Kate glances out her window. It _is _a beautiful day. It's the perfect Saturday. _

_"Oh, mom, I have plans today," she says and she's surprised at how even her voice comes out, all things considering._

_"With your writer? I would _love _to meet him Katie bug," Johanna's warm smile reaches her eyes._

_Kate has to hold back tears as she realizes just how much she's missed that smile over the years. She can't manage words right away so she nods a yes to answer her mother. After a few breaths, she squeaks out a simple, "You'd love him."_

_She knows that it is irrational and impossible. But the fact that her mother is sitting beside her in bed, talking to her, talking about Castle, it's a fact she can't ignore. And maybe she's asleep, but at that moment, she really doesn't care. Because she is talking to her mother again and right now, it's pretty damn great._

_"I'm sure," her mom says. "If you love him, I'll love him. Do you love him Katie?"_

_Kate shrugs her shoulders, "I don't know. Mom, how do you know?"_

_Now it's her mother's turn to shrug, "You just know."_

_"But - " Kate says._

_"But you need a more definite answer. I get it. I did too, when I first met your father." Her mother turns her head and looks directly into Kate's eyes. "When he's all you can think about, I guess. I'd say you know when you can't imagine being with somebody else, or you could be doing anything but you would rather be with him because even the most boring things with him are far more exciting than the adventurous things you could do alone. Katie, when you start wondering. When you start to wonder if you love him, because everything points to the fact that you are. That's when you know you're in love."_

_Kate's breath gets caught in her chest and she huffs out a strangled noise that almost sounds like the beginning of a sob. Johanna pulls her daughter close to her and holds her. "When you're in love, everything just seems better. Is everything better with him Kate?"_

_"Yeah. Yeah, Mom, it is," Kate nods, hugging her mother back._

_The moment is over before Kate can truly enjoy it. Her mother pulls away and looks at Kate straight in the eye again. "Have you told him? Does he know?" _

_Kate shakes her head no. "No, but he knows. Mom, he knows how I feel about him. I - I think he does at least."_

_"Katherine Beckett, what have I told you about assuming things? Somebody always gets hurt and at least one of you looks like an idiot. Kate, tell him." Her mother always had the power to convey her words with such a force that made it impossible to disagree or turn down._

_"I will. Mom, I will." _

_"Kate..."_

_"What? Now!?" Kate exclaims. "But I'm with you. It can wait. You're here now, you're important too. I'll talk to him tomorrow or something."_

_"Kate."_

_"Mom."_

_"Kate."_

_"Mom..." _

_And with that look her mother is giving her, Kate knows she has lost. Johanna always had that effect over Kate. _

_"But I don't want to lose you again..."_

_"Katie," Johanna smiles at Kate again. The smile still reaches her eyes but it's tinged with a bit of sadness now. Kate wipes her eyes in a pre-emptive tactic against the tears she knew would come. "You never lost me. I'm always with you." She places her hand over Kate's heart and says, "right here."_

_"That's so cheesy Mom," Kate tries to laugh but the tears on her face overpower it. "Mom."_

_"Kate. Kate_. Kate."

She jerks up and opens her eyes wide in alertness.

"What? Mom?"

"Kate?" She turns and sees Castle beside her again. Her heavy breathing starts to slow when he pulls her into him. "Are you okay? You were crying in your sleep."

"I'm okay Castle," she nods, letting herself relax in his arms. "Just a dream."

"Want to talk about it?" he doesn't let her go. He holds her in his arms until her breathing is normal and not even then does he let go.

She shakes her head, "Not now. Maybe in the morning." Because she's glanced out the window now and it's dark out still. It's kind of depressing, the darkness, because not even a little bit of her dream was real. Except. That isn't true. Because everything she said was. It was true.

"Whatever you want Kate," he says. She knows he heard her say Mom but she's glad he doesn't bring it up.

"Thanks Castle," she smiles as he lies down beside her again.

He falls asleep before her. She can tell by the change in his breathing pattern. Whether that be the girlfriend or the detective in her, she's not sure. But she knows he's sleeping. She can't sleep. She can't stop thinking about what her mother - or dream - told her. She needs to tell him. She leans over and, because him being asleep is the one time he won't make a big deal about it, she whispers it in his ear, "I love you Richard Castle."

When she closes her eyes again and snuggles next to him, sleep comes easy. She feels protected in his arms. She feels like she's everything and yet nothing. She feels like she's simply just a girl in love.

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**Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Please review!**

**This was going to be a one-shot but I think I'll make it a two. I've got ideas on how to continue it. So there will be more, unless I get a ton of reviews telling me to leave it here. Which I doubt.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So, awkward. This was supposed to be it. But then I was writing and I didn't want this chapter to be a lot longer than the previous one so I'm splitting it in two. The third (and final this time, promise) part will be up later today or tomorrow, most likely. So, yeah, hope you like it!**

**DISCLAIMER: I never said I owned anything, did I?**

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He wakes up before her. This time, the sun is shining. He's a little surprised. He would have guessed her internal clock would have woken with the sun, but he supposes that waking up in the night may have messed it up a little.

He watches her for a moment, how peaceful she looks with her head on his chest. All the times he dreamed about this, and now there was nothing stopping him from swooping in and kissing her nose to wake her up. After all those nights dreaming...

Dreaming. Thinking about that makes him remember the dream that he's pretty sure is what woke him up in the first place. It had been a weird dream, one so similar to those he had had months before when he was still single, and yet so different. It was altogether a strange one:

_Sitting in an uncomfortable chair is something that would normally bother him. For some reason, it doesn't today. He isn't sure why. Maybe it's because of the book he's holding a book signing for. This book feels different. He can't place his finger on it exactly, which is weird, because the cover says he wrote it. But it feels different._

Deep Heat. _It's a Nikki Heat book, he can tell from the name, the cover, and the fact that he doesn't know what else it would possibly be. He flipped through the pages before. A few lines stood out to him. A few inside jokes at the precinct and a few between just Beckett and him, some others wouldn't understand if they didn't know they were together, which hardly anyone did._

_The line seems never-ending. The number of fans he has never seems to change much, but today the store is so full of people, you can barely even see the sunlight coming through the windows. _

_It doesn't matter what book signing it is, but he can never not think about when Kate showed up with _Heat Rises_ after disappearing for three months. He is always in a constant state of anticipation, hoping for her face to appear in the crowd._

_"Hey there."_

_He looks up from his table and he can feel his face lift and light up at the sight of her beautiful face. Kate. She's here._

_"Hey. What are you doing?" he asks her._

_"I wanted my book signed by my favourite author. Is that a crime?"_

_"Well, if it were, you would know, being the cop and all..." He takes her book and opens it to the dedication page._

_It's the first time he's taken the time to look at what he's signing. He actually reads the dedication for the first time._

To Richard Castle, I love you. Always. -Kate

_There it is. That's the different part. _

_He looks up at her. She's smiling wider than he's seen in a long time. It's refreshing, the look on her face._

_"What did you do today?" he asks, trying to talk but also keep up the appearance of not taking too long a time to sign one book. It's harder than it would seem._

_"Nothing really," she shrugs. "Hung out with my mom, went shopping. The usual."_

_He nods. Then does a double take. It's only a _little _delayed. _

_"Your mom?" _

_"Yeah," Kate nods. "It was fun. Probably better than your day."_

_"Yeah..." he says slowly. It's now that he realizes there is no way he is awake and this is real. Something had seemed off, more than just the book, but he thought he'd been missing Kate. No, this makes more sense - he's dreaming. Because Kate did not spend the day with her dead mother and go shopping with her. It's impossible. And even the imagination found in his writer's brain could not come up with an explanation for how casual she sounds about it. Because it's not possible, and that's not like Kate to just throw things like that around._

_"Thanks Castle," she leans in to him and he thinks she's going to kiss him in front of all these people. It throws him off too, because she wouldn't pick this to be their announcement to the public. Especially not without letting the precinct know. "You're the best. Love you." She pulls away and turns around._

_Walking off, she doesn't even look back. She just leaves him there and he's sitting like a lost puppy with a dumbfounded look on his face._

_He forgets, for a moment, that this is a dream, and for a second, he's a little angry that she just threw the 'Love you' over her shoulder. Because that's the first time she's said it. And she said it like it was nothing? Nope. No way is he going to let her get away with that._

_Signing books after that seems to take twice the amount of time and energy as it usually does. But he makes it through and he rushes back to the loft._

_There's no Kate there. His mother and Alexis are home. Weird, since Alexis wasn't planning to come home until next weekend. But they're both there and he really doesn't think much of it._

_"How was the book signing?" his mother asks him._

_"What? Oh, yeah, it was fine," his frazzled reply doesn't seem to bother his dream version of Martha. Nor does it bother Alexis. "Kate come by at all?"_

_They both shake their heads and he leaves his loft. When he gets out to the street, he's surprised to see Kate's building right next to his. But hey, he needs to talk to her, and he is too worked up to let that confuse him right now. Maybe later._

_"Kate?" He's in her apartment now. He doesn't remember going up the elevator, but it's a dream so..._

_"Hey Castle! How are you?" She's pretending like nothing is wrong and it's infuriating to him._

_"You said - "_

_"What? Did I do something wrong?" she asks._

_"No. You said you love me," he says._

_The words feel so powerful when he thinks about them. He can hear it over and over. Except, it's not at all what she said in the bookstore. All he hears is "I love you Richard Castle."_

That's when he woke up. There wasn't any more to the dream, not that he remembers anyway. Maybe there was, but he'll never know.

Kate rolls in his arms and yawns. She blinks open her eyes and smiles at him, "Morning."

"Morning sleepyhead. You okay today?" he asks her.

"What?" she doesn't seem to remember the dream. Realization hits her and a look of comprehension dawns on her, "Oh yeah, I'm good."

"Wanna talk about it?" he asks.

"Actually?" she smiles at him and the flutter of her eyelashes makes his heart swoon just a bit. "Yeah. I kinda do, if you really want to hear?"

"Kate. Of course I do," he says. "I love you. If you want to talk about your dream, I'll listen. I wouldn't have offered if I didn't mean it."

She smiles at his words, "Okay. Yeah. Okay."

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**Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Please review!**

**The final part will be coming soon! More reviews = quicker update!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Final part! I had trouble with the ending but I think I worked it out. It's got fluff, fluff, tears, fluff, laughter, fluff, talking, fluff, love, and more fluff. Oh, did I mention fluff? Okay, it might not be _that _fluffy. But it's pretty fluffy. **

**Anyway, hope you like it!**

**DISCLAIMER: If anyone is still doubting this...**

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"My mom was alive," she starts off abruptly and without hesitation. "I guess you had that figured out though," she adds when she sees the lack of shock on his face.

"What happened?" he asks her, pulling her towards him and enveloping her in his arms.

"Honestly?" her head turns up to face his face and her eyes land on his, holding contact. "Nothing. We just talked. And it was so...calming. You know, Castle? It was like nothing had even happened."

"Is that why you were crying when you woke up?"

She nods. She hadn't thought she'd been crying, but that was probably why. Because everything had been perfect and normal and it made her miss her mom even more than she already did. "I didn't - I don't know. I just, I miss her."

"I know you do," he whispers in her ear. "I know. I wish I had met her."

"You'd love her," Kate says and her dream comes flooding back to her - every detail, every moment.

_"You'd love him," she says._

_"I'm sure. If you love him, I'll love him. Do you love him Katie?"_

Her breath catches in her throat. For a moment, she can't breathe. How could she have forgotten the main theme in her dream? She's been so focused on her mom that she forgot about the promise she made her, her promise to tell Castle.

But how? Right now, she can't just spring it on him out of the blue. No, it has to be perfect. She whispered it last night, but he didn't hear. That didn't count. He's going to make a big deal about it and fuss over her and make her say it over and over until he believes she truly said it.

"Kate?"

She visibly shakes her head and tries to focus back to the real world, "Yeah, sorry. I was - um, just thinking."

"About...?" he asks. "I mean, if you want to share?"

"The dream," she shrugs. "My mom, you. How much you would love each other."

"I don't doubt it," he smiles at her. There's a moment of silence, of pure, comforting silence. "I had a dream too, after we fell asleep again."

"Yeah? Wanna tell me about it?"

"It was weird. I was at a book signing and you showed up and then the dedication in the book looked like it was written by you to me but that wouldn't make sense, because it was my book," he says. "I don't know. You were acting weird and then I came home and I couldn't find you. When I did, you..." he wants to say that she told him she loves him, but that could make things uncomfortable. It's early though, and his imagination isn't quite at its most active, so he lamely finishes with, "were acting odd."

"How was I acting odd?" she laughs. "You're dream sounds sillier than mine."

"In a way, yeah," he nods. "But you were acting..." Should he say it? He wants to, but he doesn't want to mess anything up. "You were saying things."

"Castle?" Kate laughs. "You're supposed to be the writer here. Can't you come up with something more creative than 'saying things' and 'acting odd'? Or is it too early for your old man brain to function properly?"

His eyes narrow at her, "Old? You calling me old, Beckett?"

"And if I am?"

"Fine. I'll tell you exactly what happened in my dream," he shoots back at her and misses the smirk she lets slip onto her face for a split second because that was exactly what she was hoping for. "In my dream, the dedication said that you loved me. And you were acting completely off about it and not even caring and you practically blew our relationship to the public and then you walked away and said you loved me and you were acting like it was no big deal, but you know, it was."

For the second time in less than half an hour, her breath catches. If he was dreaming about her saying she loves him, could he have heard her? Could he have subconsciously let it slip into his dream?

He takes more notice this time when she freezes up. He panics for a moment. This was exactly why he hadn't wanted to bring up that in the first place.

"Kate?"

"I'm okay," she smiles at him. "Really, I am. Actually, I have more to tell you about my dream. If that's okay?"

"Of course..." he's a little wary, with good reason, because his dream just made her tense up more than she has in a long time. But she seems fine. Something is different this morning, he doesn't know what though.

"So, I was talking to my mom. About you. And I told her that she would love you, which she would of course. And she told me..." Kate pauses. She needs a minute. Really, she's okay, she just needs to catch her breath again. "And she told me that she would love you if I did. And then she asked me if I love you Castle. And I said that I didn't know. But I don't know why I said that."

"Why don't you know why you said it?" Her answer will either make him or break him. He's not sure he wants to hear it. But he has to. It's the way he is. He needs to know, good or bad, he needs to know.

"Because I do, Castle. Of course I love you," there are tears on her face.

"Are you...crying?" he pulls her to him again. "You okay?"

"Yeah, but they're happy tears. Don't worry," she leans into him as he hugs her. Her face slowly tilts up and she doesn't even realize until she's kissing him.

He kisses her back with the enthusiasm he always dreamed he would when she finally said it. "Wanna say it again?"

She laughs, because she so had him pegged on that one. She had totally called it that he would want to hear it again because once just wasn't believable.

"I love you Richard Castle," she smiles against his lips. "With all my heart."

"All of it?"

"Every single part," she kisses him again and he doesn't break it until he needs air. And even then, he's gasping when they finally part.

"I love you. I love you. I love you," she sings. "I love you."

"That's good to hear Ms Beckett, because I love you too," he says.

He pulls her down with him and they're lying on top of each other. She's wrapped in his arms and her lips are still on his. They stay attached to each other, showing just what love means. And, with a chorus of 'I love you' still in their heads, they don't get out of bed for a long time.

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**Thoughts? Love it? Hate it? Please review!**


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